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Shambhala Center 3rd Day
To understand where a beloved one goes after death, one must look deeply into the nature of reality, much like asking a flame where it has come from and where it has gone. The flame, like a cloud transforming into rain, has not come from anywhere and goes nowhere; it only manifests when conditions are sufficient. This deep looking leads to the Three Doors of Liberation. The first door is shunyata, emptiness. A flower is made entirely of non-flower elements such as sunshine, clouds, and soil; it is full of the cosmos but empty of a separate self. Similarly, a person is a continuation of their parents and ancestors, made of non-self elements. To be is to inter-be.
The second door is animitta, signlessness, which is the ability to recognize the presence of a beloved one beyond their form or appearance. The Diamond Sutra encourages the removal of four specific notions to touch the ultimate dimension:
- The notion of Self: Understanding that the self is made only of non-self elements allows one to use the word “self” freely without being caught by it.
- The notion of Man: Humans are made of non-human elements like animals, vegetables, and minerals; protecting these elements is necessary to protect humanity.
- The notion of Living Beings: The distinction between animate and inanimate is vague, as even a stone contains consciousness and the cosmos.
- The notion of Lifespan: Birth and death are merely points of continuation and transformation, not a beginning from nothing or an end into nothingness.
The third door is apranihita, aimlessness, the practice of not running after anything, including enlightenment. Just as a wave does not need to run to look for water because it is already water, one does not need to run to find the ultimate, as the nature of no birth and no death is already present. One is not a creation but a manifestation. The talk concludes with a discussion on the Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Three Refuges as concrete ways to live deeply, renew one’s own spiritual tradition, and generate understanding and compassion.
